Topic: Groundwater pollution (Read 318 times)

an impoundment 7x4 m is contaminated by carbontetrachloride. The contaminated liquid comes in contact with the groundwater and a concentration gradient of 1.1x10-6 (mol/cm3)/cm is established. Use Fick’s law to determine the diffusive flux assuming diffusion is the only driving force. How many kilograms of carbontetrachloride will move toward the groundwater in one hour?

an impoundment 7x4 m is contaminated by carbontetrachloride. The contaminated liquid comes in contact with the groundwater and a concentration gradient of 1.1x10-6 (mol/cm3)/cm is established. Use Fick’s law to determine the diffusive flux assuming diffusion is the only driving force. How many kilograms of carbontetrachloride will move toward the groundwater in one hour?

Without being given the diffusion constant, I don't see how to express an answer in absolute terms. However you can express it in terms of the diffusion constant. There is no way to calculate the diffusion constant from the information given. It is a characteristic property of the diffusant and diffusing medium. (You can determine D from the flux, or the flux from D. Both are unknowns here. So the best you can do is express the flux in terms of D, and then calculate the total mass moved - in terms of D - from the flux.)

Logged

What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent? - Richard P. Feynman